Melbourne CBD: ‘We’ll see where the wind blows’: Michelle Payne’s quiet evolution
It’s not exactly a racetrack-to-track situation, the legendary Melbourne Cup winner Michelle Payne is making changes. Payne, who reduced her training commitments in April, launched her own clothing business this week.
In a further development, Payne, who has written two books, has a statue in his honor in Flemington and is a motivational speaker, has announced plans to put Nottingham Farm, his Ballarat educational property in the CBD, on the market.
“I’m not in a big rush to sell,” he told CBD. “We’ll see if the right buyer comes along. My father’s house is still here and we’re doing this for him right now.”
“Steve (His brother) is thinking of moving to Melbourne to be closer to his girlfriend, so things are changing and we’ll see how we go.”
Known as the Payne Collection, Payne’s first clothing line is monogrammed hats with berets, followed by quality sweaters and T-shirts for adults. As part of the brand, he will also release a children’s collection of tops inspired by the colors of the famous purple, white and green silks worn by the Prince of Penzance to a historic victory in the 2015 Melbourne Cup.
“Overall, the collection is based on confidence, the idea of looking and feeling good in daily life, believing in yourself, remembering your dreams and chasing your dreams,” Payne said.
“I still get so many messages from the people watching Drive Like a Girl (The film was based on his win) with his kids, so I thought it would be fun to make little rugby jumpers and beanies for the kids in Prince’s colours.”
Payne retired as a jockey in July 2024 after a 23-year riding career. He started his coaching career in 2018 and had a dual training/riding license.
So it was natural that attention would at some point turn to the former NSW premier’s departure. Mike BairdHe resigned from his position as a non-executive director at KPMG in September, without receiving a single word from the firm at the time.
Baird’s departure became the subject of intrigue in April when he removed mention of his KPMG directorship from his LinkedIn profile. Australian Financial Review noted In that caseAfter quietly leaving in September.
But more interesting to us were the circumstances of his departure. Baird, who is a director on the accounting giant’s local board, was among those aware of the whistleblower complaint and was even more dissatisfied with the way the matter was handled, even if he was not the one who caused his departure, CBD has heard.
KPMG did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Baird declined to comment.
For those playing at home: KPMG whistleblower first filed complaint in 2024 It contains dozens of claims. As this imprint has previously reported, the allegations allege KPMG partners illegally accessed board documents from a client called construction giant Lendlease, which were used to win lucrative audit work for other major companies, including Westpac.
KPMG launched an internal investigation, which it admitted on Friday had not been conducted “with due diligence”, before appointing law firm Ashurst to review the investigation. Ashurst Green launched an investigation but the whistleblower was not satisfied.
The whistleblower then wrote a letter to independent directors on the firm’s board demanding more. KPMG then hired another law firm, Allens. KPMG said on Friday it “continues to challenge the conclusions” reached in previous investigations and confirmed confidential client data was being shared and potentially used to win new business. On Monday, KPMG was facing the possibility of losing its first major client amid the scandal.
But if KPMG’s handling of the allegations wasn’t reason enough for Baird to be knocking on the door, the firm also dismissed the board’s responsibilities to take on greater responsibility in other Asia-Pacific markets.
Responding to questions about the notice sent to the 2023 Senate committee, KPMG said the firm’s independent directors were each paid “an annual fee of $160,000.” At this rate, we can understand why the former prime minister called it a day! We can only guess that he now feels vindicated.
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Fiona Byrne is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
John Buckley is the CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
